Cebu judge accused of sexual harassment

CEBU CITY — A female public lawyer rocked the local judiciary when she accused a newly appointed Regional Trial Court judge of sexual harassment.

Regional public attorney Noel Catacutan confirmed he was furnished a copy of the letter of the complainant, a member of the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO), against RTC Judge Anacleto Caminade.

In the letter, the female lawyer said she went to RTC Branch 6 last Friday to follow up a case she was handling.

She said she was ushered into the judge’s chambers and asked to sit on a chair in front of the judge’s table.

"While discussing the case, he suddenly placed his hand on my right thigh and squeezed it. He then took my hand, slowly squeezed it, and to my utter shock, he kissed it," the female lawyer said.

She said she was so stunned by the judge’s actions that she was not able to respond immediately.

She said she later stood and told the judge she had to leave, but Caminade allegedly followed her when she headed out of the chambers and into the office of his court staff.

She said the judge then placed his hand on her shoulder and, before she could reach for the door leading to the office of the court staff, the judge reportedly said, "Kiss ko bi (Kiss me)."

To this, she retorted, "Kalu-od nimo Judge uy (You’re disgusting, Judge)!"

In the presence of his court staff, the female lawyer said Caminade acted as though nothing happened. "He did not seem to care or understand that I was offended by his behavior. I was shaking by then and pretended to look at the records but all I could think of was how I could get away from him," she said.

"I never expected Judge Caminade to behave in such a crude and disgusting way. Just because he is a judge and I am only his PAO lawyer does not give him the license to do whatever he wants or touch me and speak to me in such a revolting way," she said.

Catacutan said the female lawyer seemed to be very disturbed about her experience. He said his office will make a formal inquiry into the matter.

"Sometimes an action may be capable of more than one interpretation. That’s why we will be making this inquiry," Catacutan said.

He explained, however, that the inquiry is aimed at coming up with preventive, rather than punitive, measures since judges are not within the jurisdiction of their office.

He added that a copy of the letter will be sent to the Office of the Court Administrator of the Supreme Court for it to take appropriate action.

Another female PAO lawyer expressed support for the complainant’s move, saying she has the right to speak up if anything wrong has been done to her.

"I believe she has the right to ventilate whatever it is that happened. This kind of incident should not be tolerated," fellow lawyer Butch Donabel Rajas said.

Other PAO lawyers agreed that the incident is very unfortunate, but refused to comment further.

Caminade, who assumed his judicial duties only last January, refused to make any statement on the complaint or face members of the media.

Myrna Limbaga, Branch 6 clerk of court, said Caminade is waiting for a copy of the allegations and will air his side in the proper forum. — Freeman News Service